Applicable only to students admitted during the 2023-2024 academic year.

English

College of Letters and Science

Graduate Degrees

The Department of English offers the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in English.

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

See under Doctoral Degree.

Areas of Study

Literatures in English. See under Course Requirements.

Foreign Language Requirement

Students who do not intend to continue for the Ph.D. degree may fulfill the language requirement by demonstrating a reading knowledge of any language other than English (see under Doctoral Degree). This requirement should be satisfied no later than the mid-point of the quarter in which all degree requirements are completed.

Course Requirements

All graduate students in the program are required to take a minimum of 12 units or three courses per quarter. Though all students are admitted directly into the Ph.D. program, students may decide to leave the program with an M.A. degree if they complete degree requirements under the Thesis Plan or the Capstone Plan. Nine letter-graded English courses are required for the M.A. degree; these courses must be at the graduate level (200 series).

Students at any stage of the program may take courses for S/U grading, but such courses cannot be used to satisfy degree requirements. The work required to receive a grade of Satisfactory must be agreed on in advance with the instructor of the course.

Teaching Experience

Although teaching experience is not required, students have the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant after passing the English 495A requirement and spending at least one year in the program. Teaching assignments are not automatically offered to students but are awarded on the basis of merit.

Field Experience

Not required.

Capstone Plan

Students in the Ph.D. program who do not already hold an M.A. in English receive the M.A. degree after they have satisfied one language requirement, completed course requirements, and passed the first qualifying examination (see Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations under Doctoral Degree) which also serves as the master’s comprehensive examination.

Thesis Plan

Every master’s degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research.

Students may select the thesis plan for the M.A. degree after a maximum of two years in the program. They must request a committee from the Vice Chair a minimum of two quarters before completion of the program. The committee consists of three faculty members who meet as a group with the student to consider the thesis proposal. The thesis must not be less than 10,000 words or more than 15,000 words in length. Students who elect to write an M.A. thesis take English 598 each quarter.

Time-to-Degree

Students who select the thesis option must file the thesis no later than the tenth quarter after admission. Students in the Ph.D. program receive the M.A. degree after satisfying one foreign language requirement and passing the First Qualifying Examination, which fulfills the master’s comprehensive examination requirement.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
M.A.	9	9	12 (by petition)

Doctoral Degree

Advising

The general adviser for graduate students is the Vice Chair for Graduate Studies. The Vice Chair and a second member of the faculty also serve as the personal advisers for first-year students. These two advisers meet with entering students, approve their plans for study each quarter of their first year, counsel them as the need arises, and evaluate their academic progress periodically. Among the factors considered in the evaluations are course grades, written evaluations of performance in seminars and other courses, and progress toward the satisfaction of degree requirements.

The department encourages students to consult, as early as possible in their graduate careers and frequently thereafter, with any and all faculty, and in particular with those in their special fields of interest. The Graduate Counselor should be consulted on any questions or problems that arise.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Literatures in English.

Foreign Language Requirement

In practical terms, the purpose of the language requirement is to prepare students to read literary and critical works in languages other than English. However, departmental faculty believe that there is also an intrinsic value in linguistic study for anyone seriously interested in literature. Students in the Ph.D. program are expected to demonstrate reading proficiency in a language other than English. The language requirement must be completed before taking the first qualifying exam. Examinations requiring translation of literary and critical passages are offered by the department each quarter in French, German, and Spanish and once a year in Italian. Other languages are acceptable as long as comparable examinations can be arranged by the student in another UCLA department.

A basic reading knowledge of a language may be established in one of the following ways: (1) by passing a special reading examination offered by the English Department or certain UCLA language departments; (2) by passing the special reading course for graduate students offered by various language departments, e.g., Italian 1G, German 1G, or French 1G; (3) by passing with a letter grade of B or higher the elementary language course offered by various language departments, e.g., Spanish 3, Japanese 3, Persian 1C or by passing a higher level language course which requires an elementary course as a prerequisite; (4) by passing with a letter grade of B or higher the summer intensive language course offered by various language departments, e.g., Arabic 8, French 8 or Latin 16; (5) by passing with a letter grade of B or higher English 211, Old English; (6) by passing with a letter grade of B or higher an upper division or graduate level course in the literature (not in translation) of the language. Students may petition to have prior course work count as fulfillment of the requirement, but work done more than two years before entering the program is not accepted.

The language requirement must be fulfilled before the student is permitted to take the first qualifying examination.

Course Requirements

Fourteen letter-graded courses are required. These courses must be selected from this department’s course offerings at the graduate level (200 or above) or from equivalent courses taught by faculty from this department in other departments or programs on campus. All students are required to take English 200 (Graduate Proseminar) in their first year, which they may count toward their 14-course minimum. With the approval of the Vice Chair, Ph.D. students may apply to the fourteen-course requirement up to three courses offered by faculty in departments other than English (such as literature in another language, history, art history, Afro-American studies, film, women’s studies).

Students who enter the program with an M.A. degree may petition the Graduate Vice Chair to grant credit toward the 14-course requirement for letter-graded graduate courses taken in their M.A. programs. At the Vice Chair’s discretion, a maximum of four such courses may be credited toward the degree.

Students who pursue the doctorate take English 596 (Directed Study) each quarter in Stage One, either under an individual professor or the Vice Chair. Students who elect to write an M.A. thesis take English 598 each quarter. While students may take English 596 for fulfilling the necessary units for a full course load, a maximum of two letter-graded English 596 courses and no more than one a year can count toward the 14-course requirement. For a letter-graded section of English 596 to count toward the 14-course requirement, its syllabus should reflect the reading and writing (or other media) assignments of a typical seminar and must be approved by the Vice Chair no later than the first week of the quarter.

Breadth. Of the 14 letter-graded courses for the Ph.D., a minimum of two courses must be in periods before 1800, two in periods after 1800, and two in theory, genre, or methods.

All students at any stage of the program may take courses for S/U grades, but such courses cannot be used to satisfy any requirements for a degree. The work required for an S must be agreed on in advance with the instructor of the course.

Teaching Experience

Although teaching experience is not required, students have the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant after passing the English 495A requirement and spending at least one year in the program. Teaching assignments are not automatically offered to students but are awarded on the basis of merit.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

First Stage Evaluation. At the end of each quarter of the student’s first year in the program, the Graduate Vice Chair meets with the student’s seminar instructors to review overall academic performance and to identify specific areas needing special attention. The Vice Chair reports on the student’s overall progress, including the findings of this review, to the Graduate Committee by the end of the subsequent fall quarter and advises the student as to their progress in the program.

First Qualifying Examination. Students are required to finalize the membership of their examination committee by the winter quarter of their second year. They are required to finalize their reading lists by fall quarter of the third year and to take the exam no later than the spring quarter of their third year. In case of extenuating circumstances that delay the formation of a committee for the Part I exam, students are required to submit a petition to the Vice Chair to take their exam no later than a year after finalizing the membership of their examination committee. Under the supervision of the Examination Committee, the student devises three reading lists, each consisting of approximately 30 primary texts (or equivalent bodies of work, as in the case of poems, short fiction, essays, etc.), and 10 critical texts that have been important to the development of the field, each list representing a coherent field of literary study. At least two of these fields must be historical, chosen in most cases from among currently recognized historical periods and including a substantial number of canonical works by major authors. The third exam topic may be an additional historical period, a special topic, or one devised by the student. Where the third field is a special topic or a newly-devised topic, its list is to consist entirely of works not included on either of the two other lists. The first purpose of the examination is to test the student’s understanding of the principal works and contours of at least two historical periods. In designing the lists, students and faculty are expected to balance the interests of (1) establishing expertise in a recognized professional field of study, and (2) accommodating students’ intellectual interests and preparation for the dissertation. Previous lists are kept on file in the Graduate Counselor’s office, and may be consulted as useful models for later examinees.

Once the student and faculty members complete the lists, all three lists together must be approved by the Examination Committee. The lists are then submitted to the Vice Chair for approval, and the First Qualifying Examination can be scheduled. The exam centers on a two-hour oral examination. The written component of this exam, required by the university, consists of an unrevised paper that the student wrote for an English seminar and which best represents their critical skills and thinking. This paper is submitted two weeks before the exam. Although not required, it is preferable that the student select a paper that is relevant to the fields in which they are being examined.

In order for a student to receive a Pass on the examination, all examiners must agree that the student has passed all three sections of the examination. If a student fails one section, the student will receive a Fail and will be required to retake that section. If a student fails two sections, the student will be required to take all three sections again. The examinations may be retaken only once. Before any failed examination is retaken, the Graduate Committee reviews the record as a whole and offers, through the Vice Chair, advice on how students should proceed.

Second Stage. As soon as possible after successful completion of the First Qualifying Examination, students nominate their doctoral committees and begin to prepare the dissertation prospectus. The doctoral committee is formed in accordance with UCLA’s Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution. In addition to these minimum standards, the English department requires that at least two of the three required UCLA faculty members serving on the committee hold faculty appointments in English. The departmental members may include those who served on the First Qualifying Examination committee, but this is not required. The inclusion on the doctoral committee of a member or members from outside the department will be at the discretion of the committee chair or co-chairs. Once students advance to this stage, they may take up to 12 units of English 597 per quarter with the dissertation chair(s). Students are required to update the dissertation chair(s) on progress in order to receive a satisfactory grade for each quarter. Students are also encouraged to take any seminars that might prove useful.

Second Qualifying Examination. Students are required to pass the Second Qualifying Exam no later than the Spring quarter of their 4th year.”
Third Stage. When students pass the second qualifying examination, they advance to candidacy and receive the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree. Students proceed with preparing the dissertation and enroll each quarter in English 599 to reflect this ongoing research and writing. Students are encouraged to enroll in seminars in their field whenever they are offered. All course requirements (oral reports and term papers) may be satisfied through work connected with the dissertation.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)

Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree

Standard time to degree is 6-7 years. The maximum allowed by the department under normal circumstances is 8 years, after which there is a requirement of departmental petition

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
Ph.D.	12	21	24

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

A recommendation for termination is made by the Vice Chair for Graduate Studies, after consultation with the Graduate Committee and confirmed by the graduate faculty. A student may appeal a recommendation for termination to the Graduate Committee.